Mike Paffman, CEO, VIRGO PR

Marketing can seem overwhelming to those who are not very familiar with it, since it requires knowing numerous channels and activities used in marketing. Small businesses often fall into the trap of focusing on the operation side of things, and neglecting marketing. Small business owners may want to market their product or service but not know where to start. Typically, the very first step in marketing a business is formulating a marketing strategy.

Establishing a marketing strategy is important for any business. Research suggests that a documented market strategy can increase the success rate of a business by 538%, compared to businesses that do not have a marketing strategy in place. Before a small business decides to invest in marketing by allocating funds or resources, it needs to come up with a strategy to guide them regarding their target audience, brand image, and unique selling points.

A marketing strategy is crucial for any business, for the following 5 reasons :

It helps the business know its demographic

Businesses should identify their potential customer base or target demographic. While most businesses strive to appeal to everyone, it makes more sense to focus on the key groups that may contain many long-term customers because the given product or service fulfills their need. A marketing strategy will help businesses determine who their target customers should be.

Businesses can better understand the benefits of their product or service

One of the crucial components of marketing is determining who needs or benefits from the product or service in question, how the customers benefit, and why they feel compelled to believe in the benefit. If a business offers something that no other competitor offers, then the benefit that the business offers is unique. Businesses can stand out among competitors by understanding the mechanism behind the benefit that they offer customers.

A marketing strategy ensures that the brand communicates in a consistent manner

A marketing strategy helps communicate business value to customers as well as employees. It helps define what the business is, what they do, and why they do it. It also ensures that the content or marketing that the business puts out is consistent with its image.  Having a marketing strategy ensures that a business is accurately represented by its marketing messaging.

It helps the business know what kind of marketing budget they should have

Once a business has a coherent marketing plan in place, it can determine what media channels to use. Companies can use social media or print, or they can run commercials, for instance.  Different channels require different amounts of resources. Knowing which channels to market in will help businesses determine a marketing budget that suits their needs.

It helps businesses position themselves compared to competitors

Once a business understands what it does, who its target audience is, and how it can appeal to them - it should get to know who their competitors are, and how their product or service stacks up against theirs. 

About the Author: Mike Paffmann is CEO of Virgo PR, a leading PR agency.